If you’re a teacher, you’ve probably had to tell your students to put their phones away once or twice (or a million times). As technology and social media have increased, so has our students’ need to have their phones on them at ALL TIMES. While there are times when phones are necessary as part of our classrooms, for the most part they are a huge distraction to our students. Even when it’s out of sight in their pockets, it is near impossible for them to ignore a notification when they feel it vibrate. Even if they do manage to ignore it, the very thought of who might have texted them removes their focus from whatever they were doing. I would venture to say that at least 75% of the discipline issues in my classroom last year revolved around cell phones.
I have always felt like fighting cell phones in my classroom was a losing battle…until this year. I don’t get paid to argue with children who refuse to hand over their device or constantly try to pull one over on me, so I implemented a new policy in my classroom and the results have been nothing short of amazing.
I spent less than $30 and purchased one of these drawer organizers and two of these charger hubs to create a “CELL PHONE ZONE” that my students have to drop their phones into as they walk in the door. I started this on day 1 and made a big deal about the fact they could connect their charger to the hubs and they could still see their phones, which they reportedly appreciate.
My students know that if I see their phones in my room past the cell phone zone, then I keep them until the end of the day. I’ve had to make an example of that one time before they realized I was serious and I haven’t had a problem since.
After the first few weeks of school, I created a Google Form survey on which I asked how my students felt about different aspects of our classroom. Over 65% claimed that they “felt more focused because their phones were not on them in class”, while only 10% stated that they think the cell phone zone is “dumb because they are in high school and should be able to use their phones when they want.”
There are rare and special times that I will allow students to keep their phones with them in the event that we need to use them for an app or if we are doing a science lab, they are allowed to take pictures to post on social media. They know that if they take advantage and I find them texting or snapping or anything else inappropriate, then their phone is mine.
We are now close to halfway through our school year and I can absolutely say that, after 17 years of teaching middle and high school students, this was the best $30 I’ve ever spent for my classroom.
Do you have other tried and true ideas for managing cell phones in your classroom? Post below in the comments!
Yes, that plunger is my bathroom pass. 😉
[…] of many teachers’ existence. In fact, it was the biggest issue of my life last year. Click here to read about what I did in my classroom to nip this problem in the bud. I treated the cell phone issue like a science experiment and the results have been […]